Gingo Animation
Gingo Animation, LLC (also known as Gingo Studios or simply Gingo and stylized as GiNGO) is an American animation studio based in North Hollywood, California, owned by NBCUniversal. It was founded by Geo G. and Michael Wildshill in 1988, and creates animated feature films, short films, television programs, and video games. The studio has currently produced a total of 18 feature films, beginning with Paint World (1999) with its most recent being Gabriel Garza 3 (2017). During its early years, Gingo entered an agreement to co-produce and finance films with 20th Century Fox, who came to own a minor stake of the studio. In 2007, Universal Studios acquired Gingo, who retained their original brand, logo, and most intellectual properties, at a valuation of $3.85 billion. Although the studio only made two traditionally animated films in the past, all of their films now utilize computer animation. Gabriel Garza, a character from the studio's animated television series of the same name, is the studio's mascot. The studio's most well-known franchises include Gabriel Garza, Hatty, Planetokio, Computeropolis, Woo La La, Quest, and Imagimals. Its highest-grossing films are 2014's Gabriel Garza 2 (at $895.6 million worldwide), 2017's Imagimals (at $837.2 million worldwide), and 2015's The Planetokio Movie (at $717.3 million worldwide). Gabriel Garza 2 is among the 50 highest-grossing films of all time, and fourteen of its films are among the 50 highest-grossing animated films of all time, with Gabriel Garza 2 being the tenth all-time highest in the latter category. Gingo has been widely recognized by the animation industry and has received numerous accolades. The studio has often been described as secretive and seclusive. History Founding (1982–1995) Gingo Animation was founded by animators Geo G. and Michael Wildshill in 1982 as Geo G. Productions, originally a division of Hanna-Barbera. In early 1988, Geo G. Productions was renamed as Gingo Animation, and was thus separated from Hanna-Barbera. The studio had produced a Saturday morning animated television series titled Gabriel Garza, which ran on CBS from 1991 to 1993 and on Fox Kids from 1994 to 2002. Its title character Gabriel Garza has been Gingo's mascot since his introduction in 1991. In 1993, Gingo created a division named Glass Ball Productions, which typically produces animated films and television shows targeted to young adult audiences. Gingo Interactive was a video game developer and publisher founded in 1994 as a subsidiary of Gingo. It was best known for developing [[Gabriel Garza (1996 video game)|the video game adaptation of Gabriel Garza]], as well as Niz Chicoloco and its sequel Niz 2: The Journey of Nonsensical. In 2007, however, it was shut down in order to focus on third-party development of video game adaptations of its franchises by other developers. In 1995, when Pixar released the first-ever film to be entirely computer-animated, Toy Story, Gingo began plans for its own computer-animated feature in order to compete with Pixar. Its ideas for the project included The Boy and the Ape, a concept that originated in 1994 but did not get beyond its planning stage; the canceled project was revealed nineteen years after its conception. The second CGI project was Galaxy Melody, which took inspirations from Star Wars and Disney's Fantasia. It was intended to be a science fiction comedy musical hybrid, and was also intended to prove Gingo's ability to produced CGI films rather than only traditionally animated films. Gingo spent six months on the project, developing various concept artwork and animation tests. However, most staff members other than Geo were not passionate about the project and thought it was "one-dimensional", leading to the project's eventual cancellation. According to Geo, Galaxy Melody was Gingo's "first lesson about failure". In 1996, however, Gingo released its first CGI short titled Tifi, which was its first completed attempt at computer animation. Partnership with Fox (1996–2008) In May 1996, Gingo Animation and 20th Century Fox announced that their companies were teaming up to co-finance and distribute Gingo's first feature film Paint World, which had been in pre-production for a year. On August 21, 1998, Gingo and Fox signed a $250 million deal to make ten more films that were estimated to be completed within the next fifteen years. Another project was also announced, titled The Tub People, intended to be based on the children's picture book of the same name by Pam Conrad; however, it was put on hold two years later because of script issues. From October 21, 1999 until January 31, 2000, Gingo produced four three-minute CGI short films to promote the North American release of the video game Planetokio, entitled Bot Fight, Race, Clones and Iken's Lunch; they were originally available for viewing on the North American Planetokio website. On December 22, 1999, Paint World was released to a great critical and financial success. In 2000, Fox bought a 35% stake in Gingo that gradually increased to 60%, strengthening the relationship between Fox and Gingo. In June 2001, Gingo announced a full slate of eleven animated projects in development: an animated remake of the 1976 action film Sky Riders, Computeropolis, an adaptation of the fighting game Abalaburn, Frogs, Gabriel Garza: Unleashed, an adaptation of BJ and Wally, Greenwoods, Nerd Boy, an adaptation of the Marvel comic series Big Hero 6, [[The Planetokio Movie|a film adaptation of Planetokio]], and an adaptation of the platform game Shake Kids. On August 16, 2002, the studio released its second feature film and its final traditionally animated film, The Gabriel Garza Movie, an adaptation of Gabriel Garza. On September 17, 2004, Gingo released its third feature film and its first full-length computer-animated film, Computeropolis, which was met with favorable reviews and grossed $687 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film from Gingo (until it was surpassed by Gabriel Garza 2 in 2014) and the third highest-grossing film of 2004. Due to its success, Gingo was requested to greenlight a sequel, thus making Computeropolis its first film franchise. Gingo also decided to exit the hand-drawn animation business, due to the increasing popularity of computer animation. Beginning with Computeropolis, all of its films were expected to be produced in CGI; as of 2014, Gingo has not produced a traditionally animated film to date. Gingo released its fourth film How Frogs Go to London on July 15, 2005, to generally positive reviews. Although it was a modest box office success, it fell short of expectations upon its release, resulting in a $93 million write-down for Gingo. The studio abandoned plans for a sequel titled How Frogs Go to Paris. Gingo's fifth film BJ and Wally, an adaptation of the comic strip of the same name, debuted on July 7, 2006, earning $486 million worldwide. The studio's first sequel and sixth film, Computeropolis 2, opened in the United States on September 21, 2007, earning over $469 million worldwide. Gingo's second sequel was BJ and Wally: FusionMania, released on May 16, 2008. The film opened to a much bigger than expected $43 million opening, and ended up with $246 million worldwide. In 2008, Gingo celebrated 20 years of being an animation studio. Universal era (2007–present) On June 1, 2007, three months before the release of Computeropolis 2, Variety reported that, due to creative differences, Fox would not renew their distribution deal with Gingo and announced that it would expire with the release of BJ and Wally: FusionMania in 2008. Fox also did not provide Gingo with more capital, nor did they purchase the studio's remaining stake. According to Geo and Wildshill, they were surprised Fox did not directly acquire the studio. Gingo then looked for potential buyers. In July 2007, representatives from The Walt Disney Company and Universal Studios began visiting Gingo with purchase offers. Gingo was interested in Disney's offer, but the deal collapsed, and on August 30, 2007, Universal Studios officially announced a deal to acquire Gingo for $3.85 billion, with Gingo shareholders to receive $30 and approximately 0.693 Universal shares for each share of Gingo that they own. On January 31, 2008, the deal was announced to be completed, and Gingo became a wholly owned subsidiary of Universal Studios. Character trademarks from franchises created by Gingo, such as Gabriel Garza, Hatty Weasel, Iken of Planetokio, and Peri Dazz of Computeropolis, were retained by Gingo and sold to Universal. However, intellectual property produced through Gingo's Glass Ball label, such as Geo TV and Cland Ann, were retained by Fox, who opted to retain said series within its adult animation lineup, which consisted of The Simpsons, Family Guy, and Futurama. The Gingo name was also guaranteed to continue, and the studio would remain in its current location in North Hollywood. Gingo's digital, marketing, consumer products, and gaming divisions were all absorbed into Universal's parent company NBCUniversal. Woo La La was the first film from Gingo to be distributed by Universal; released on March 13, 2009 in the United States, Woo La La earned $532 million worldwide, making it Universal's highest-grossing film of 2009. Two months after it completed its acquisition of Gingo, Universal announced a deal with another animation studio named Illumination Entertainment, positioning it as NBCUniversal's family entertainment arm within its feature animation group. This meant that Universal would be able to release as many as five animated films in a year, divided between the two studios; Gingo and Illumination remain separate companies. Wildshill later explained that after the merger, to maintain the studios' separate identities and cultures (notwithstanding the fact of common ownership and common senior management), he and Geo G. "drew a hard line" that each studio was solely responsible for its own projects and would not be allowed to borrow personnel from or lend tasks out to the other; the rule ensures that each studio maintains "local ownership" of projects and "can be proud of its own work". Thus, for example, when Gingo had issues with Gabriel Garza (2011) and Illumination with The Lorax (2012), "nobody bailed them out", and each studio was required "to solve the problem on its own", even when they knew there were personnel at the other studio who, theoretically, could have helped. In July 2010, Gingo purchased Fox's distribution rights to its pre-2009 library, and since then, Universal has assumed distribution rights to the library. In September 2012, Gingo named a former president of Walt Disney Feature Animation, Peter Schneider, president of Gingo Animation; however, in January 2013, Schneider resigned for personal reasons. In 2013, Gingo celebrated its 25th anniversary. The studio's thirteenth film, Gabriel Garza 2, opened in the United States on July 2, 2014, earning over $895 million worldwide and becoming the highest-grossing animated film of 2014, thus becoming the most profitable film from Gingo in its 25-year history. In 2015, the releases of Hatty and The Planetokio Movie marked the first time Gingo released two films in one year. On April 28, 2016, NBCUniversal announced its intent to acquire competing studio DreamWorks Animation for $3.8 billion, thus making DreamWorks Animation the third animation studio owned by Universal; the acquisition was later completed on August 22, 2016. Company name The company name is named after Gingo biloba (later Ginkgo biloba), a poem written by the German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The poem was published in his work West-östlicher Diwan (West-Eastern Divan), first published in 1819. Goethe used "Gingo" instead of "Ginkgo" in the first version to avoid the hard sound of the letter "k". The company is also named after the identically named Ginkgo biloba, the only living species in the division Ginkgophyta, all others being extinct. It is found in fossils dating back 270 million years. Native to China, the tree is widely cultivated and was introduced early to human history. It has various uses in traditional medicine and as a source of food. The genus name Ginkgo is regarded as a misspelling of the Japanese gin kyo, "silver apricot". However, "gingo" is more commonly translated as "passed" from Swedish. The name of the company was originally going to be "StarActive Studios", but founders Geo and Wildshill wanted to come up with "something funny" and said to be intended to describe the non-linear editing systems and video compression the company was specializing on. They afterwards decided to go with Gingo Animation Studios, most commonly known today as Gingo Animation. However, Geo has claimed that the name was a result of being a pun on "bingo but with a G instead of a B". Projects Traditions and culture Coming soon! Sequels and prequels Gingo planned a proposed direct-to-video sequel to their first feature film Paint World. It was cancelled before it began production. The trailer is included on the Paint World Special Edition DVD. Also, third Paint World film was planned but cancelled after the cancellation of these. Computeropolis 2, Gingo's first sequel, was first announced in September 2004 following the box office success of Computeropolis. The film was released on September 21, 2007, as Gingo's sixth feature film. A third film, Computeropolis 3, was also announced in September 2005 during the production of Computeropolis 2 and was released on March 5, 2010, as their ninth. While promoting the release of Gingo's fifth feature film BJ and Wally in 2006, Geo G. fueled speculation on further sequels by saying, "If we have a great story, we'll do a sequel." BJ and Wally: FusionMania, a sequel to BJ and Wally and Gingo's first non-''Computeropolis'' sequel, was officially announced in August 2006 and released on May 16, 2008, as their seventh. Gabriel Garza 2, a sequel to Gabriel Garza (2011), was announced in July 2011 and was released on July 2, 2014 as Gingo's thirteenth film. In September 2011, Jesse McCartney, who voiced Peri Dazz in the Computeropolis series, implied that Computeropolis 4 was "in the works," although it had not yet been confirmed by the studio. In July 2013, Computeropolis 4 was confirmed to be in development with Audel LaRoque serving as director. In May 2014, LaRoque announced that he, Len Blum, and Joe Stillman were writing a sequel to Quest (2013), though he would not return to direct. In September 2014, Gabriel Garza 3, a sequel to Gabriel Garza 2, was announced by Universal Pictures for a July 19, 2017, release. In February 2015, Woo La La 2 was announced to be in development. Upcoming projects In October 2015, Gingo announced [[Niz Chicoloco (film)|an animated feature film based on Niz Chicoloco]], and is currently slated for release on December 20, 2017. In July 2013, it was announced that Audel LaRoque will direct Computeropolis: Deep of the Web, scheduled for release on July 27, 2018. In January 2014, Gingo announced one of the additional films, as appropriately joked as the untitled Michael Wildshill film, which is not a sequel to Woo La La. In 2015, the film's title was announced as Zone, and a planned release on December 6, 2019, was announced. In April 2017, Imagimals 2, a sequel to Imagimals, was announced and slated for a March 27, 2020 release. In June 2017, Gingo announced that [[Mugman (film)|an animated feature film based on Mugman]] will be released on May 19, 2021. Written and produced by the series' creator Jacob Lenard, it will be directed by Steve Samono. Three untitled Gingo films have been scheduled for March 4, 2022, March 3, and December 22, 2023, which are said to be original projects though it was rumored that two of the untitled films will be sequels to Woo La La and Quest. As of June 2017, Gingo has another untitled film that is currently slated for a May 10, 2024 release. Cancelled projects Distribution Originally, early Gingo films have been released by 20th Century Fox, whom Gingo entered into a long-term 10-picture distribution deal, starting with 1999's Paint World and ending with 2008's BJ and Wally: FusionMania. When Universal bought Gingo in 2007, this meant most Gingo films starting with 2009's Woo La La onwards were to be distributed by Universal Pictures. Home video releases for Gingo films are handled by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment for films released in 1999 through 2008, and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment for films released in 2009 onwards. Filmography Feature films Released :For Glass Ball Productions films, see Glass Ball Productions. Upcoming Films in development Direct-to-video films TV specials Short films Television series Online series Coming soon! Accolades Academy Awards Coming soon! Golden Globes Coming soon! Critics' Choice Awards Coming soon! Kids' Choice Awards Coming soon! National Board of Review Coming soon! Satellite Award Coming soon! Highest-grossing films See also *Illumination Entertainment *DreamWorks Animation *Universal Animation Studios *Gingo Interactive *List of Gingo Animation films *Gingo Animation/upcoming release slate timeline *Gingo production logo Category:Companies Category:Gingo Animation Category:Universal Studios Category:NBCUniversal Category:Comcast Category:Gingo Animation Wiki